As part of the SPROCKET development phase, we have been holding several workshops with parents of children and young people with complex health needs. We have worked further with some of these parents to co-develop three short animations highlighting different aspects of their lived experience and some of the challenges they face.
We held a dedicated workshop with parents to hear their stories in more detail and to decide on themes and content. We then shared drafted storyboards with parents before moving onto to the final animation phase.
We are proud to share the final animations now. The stories in these animations are all from true stories - we have not exaggerated any of their experiences. Some minor details have been in changed to protect anonymity.
Trigger warning: the content of these videos may be upsetting for certain viewers, as it is based on the real experiences of people looking after children with complex needs in the UK today.
Why is it a fight?
Every parent we have spoken to has talked about the exhaustion of needing to constantly push for services for their child, instead of services coming to them. Many have talked about it being a constant fight and the fear of being labelled as “angry”, when often they are just desperate to get help for their child and their family.
The Hardest Transition
The SPROCKET project is focusing on key transitions in a child and young person’s life that are particularly challenging. While parents all agreed that these are very important and a good focus for SPROCKET, they also wanted people to understand that caring for a child with complex health needs is a very hard transition for them personally as well. This animation captures a few people’s experience, while of course acknowledging that each family have their own experience.
A better way is possible
Parents shared many stories highlighting specific aspects of challenges they faced. Some of them have been captured in this animation. Parents also expressed hope that improvements are possible, and came up with several ideas on how a better system would look. We have ended this animation on a positive note highlighting what could be done and a belief that it can be done.
These animations were produced by CC Animation Studio and funded by The Commonwealth Fund. The workshops with parents were undertaken as part of the SPROCKET development phase, funded by NIHR.